Prospect Info: 5th - 137: Wings select Jordan Sambrook (D)

Is he anything like that other right shooting -brook in Chicago?

 

I liked what I saw in Erie this year. Erie was pretty deep on defense, so he didn't get as much time on the ice as a lot of other draft eligible defensemen. When he did play, however, he stepped up and contributed on the score sheet. My comparison/projection for Sambrook is a right-handed version of Jordan Leopold. 20-30 points a year, strong on the breakout, and reliable in his own zone. I realize Detroit just drafted a bunch of defenders, but after another year or two in the 'O and some time in Grand Rapids I think he could be the ideal 3rd pairing defenseman with the ability to step onto the 2nd powerplay unit if necessary. Good value in the 5th round in my opinion.

 

Fine by me. If ouellet busts (into being anything but a nhler) he just steps into that role. Same with marchenko. Another bottom pair dman that could step into the second pair of a short term injury occurs

 

Thanks for your assessment. I think that sounds pretty awesome. We have always struggled with developing right handed offensive d-men so if he can become a 3rd pairing guy who can play on the 2nd PP unit that is awesome value considering where he was drafted. I'd imagine he will get a bigger role in the O next year so we should get more data as he gets more PT.

 

He may well get some time on the 1st pairing this coming year but he'll definitely play a larger role even if on the 2nd pairing. I can see something like 15 goals, 30 assists if everything goes well. It's a good organization for him to go to as he'll really benefit from some AHL seasoning which the Wings are certain to provide. I'll check in now and then during the regular season to give you guys an update.

 

On Athletic prospect article Sambrook's coach praised him of his defensive game.

Next year he should be at Griffins..? Or Toledo...

 

I sort of assume he is re-entering the draft at this point.

 

Mmm you may be right, looks like we never signed him to an ELC...

(what are the rules for that?)

 

Would be weird if they don't sign him. Let a guy like Renouf walk and bring him in.

 

and then go to Toledo? Or see Saarijarvi ride the bench again? If the Wings cleaned house a bit the roster spaces wouldn't be an issue, but I doubt that happens. If I'm Sambrook, I look to re-enter the draft just to get into a different development system.

 

How often does that actually happen with CHLers though? Can only think of cases where the team decided to not sign a pick. NCAA is different as they're older by the time they need to be signed.

There was an article a while back in which one of the beat writers suggested that there's a chance Sambrook may not be signed. I found it strange, but we already have too many decent D picks who need playing time in GR so maybe it's just a numbers game.

On a side note, this may be a reason to avoid going heavy on certain positions in one draft. If you find 2-3 solid picks playing the same position (especially D) in the same draft, you probably won't be able to give all of them a real chance. Much easier to give chances in GR if you have F's and D's turning pro every year.

 

I remember there being speculation of that with Alan Quine

was certainly weird that he wasn't signed at least

 

Alan Quine, an Islanders Newcomer, Introduces Himself as a Playoff Standout

 

You move a career AHL or ECHL player to make room to develop a potential NHL player like Jordan, or else what are you doing? They have to sign him.

We have at least a couple defenders in GR alone, who've just been stewing there for several seasons, without serious likelihood of becoming regular NHL-ers. Some of whom were even brought aboard with the idea of just filling AHL roster spots in mind. So, the Wings can make room for Sambrook. And honestly, I can't imagine what the excuse would be for not making room for him. Potential like his out of the fifth round doesn't grow on trees any more. Then again, this organization's problem does seem to be that it still has its head stuck in the 1990s, when you didn't have to budget and nobody else was scouting the globe for talent.

Sambrook is a prospect who has experience playing in big games with Erie and Soo, and he has performed very well in such situations. If you don't have room for a forged-in-the-fire defender, with the state that defense has been in lately, then you have no business being a professional hockey organization. This shouldn't even be a question.

 

It's the numbers game that I can see turning Sambrook off signing at all. I think the problem starts in Detroit where we have a bunch of mediocre vets taking spots, and a couple of younger guys (XO, Jensen) that Holland was also unwilling to part with. Eliminate just one of those guys at the start of last year, and Russo is probably in Detroit to start the year and Saarijarvi has a spot he can slide into in GR.

Going into next fall, GR has pretty much the same blueline still under contract, plus Cholowski making the jump, right? And I have to believe that whoever makes the team out of camp is just going to push another guy through waivers and back to GR. If you're Sambrook and you're looking at this mess, I think you have to question if it's a good place to go and try to find playing time. And with the rookie max deals in place, it's not like his first deal is going to break the bank anyway, so re-entering the draft from that standpoint probably wouldn't be a big deal.

This summer Detroit and GR need to cut bait with some of these guys they have under contract.

 

the whole point of grand rapids is to develop future DRW

if the idea is to win calder cups then get a new farm team and abandon GR

5 of the 6 dmen spots down there should be reserved for guys drafted by the DRW starting from draft position/potential

silly to lose a guy or not let a guy develop because we want to help nobodies win nothing

 

it's pretty annoying that Holland still hasn't connected the dots on this stuff and how there's only so much ice time to go around

I remember going on 4 years ago at this point being upset during the offseason that the Wings were slated to have an overloaded NHL roster and then 5 legit prospects and a couple AHL vets down in Grand Rapids

i'd have hoped he'd have learned a lesson there or something but nope fast forward to this year and you see the same sort of thing happening to Saarijarvi as happened to Backman way back when(minus the whole getting fed up with being in a bad situation and going back home to try and get more ice time and getting traded thing)

 

Which Draft would Sambrook be eligible for??
Is there no written articles on this subject?

 

2018

 

There could be more connecting the dots to do for fans though. Was Backman held back or was he simply not good enough?

Sambrook's stats this year are underwhelming. I certainly want us to sign him but with extra draft picks and an increased focus on acquiring D there are only so many spots to go. Maybe Sambrook is preferable to some career AHLers, but where is he on the prospect ranking?

- Cholowski
-Hronek
-Hicketts
-Lindstrom
-Saarijarvi
-Holway
-Sulak
-Kotkansalo/Setkov?
-Sambrook?

Add in the '18 draft and we're likely to get some d-men in the top 40, probably one in the top 10.

Sooner or later you need to make tough decisions. This could be one. More will come.

 

I think thats what people are saying

just they're saying clear house of career AHLers first like lashoff

otherwise this will become a problem

 

This is an extremely poor way of looking at your farm team.

I am glad that isn't the way any organization treats the AHL.

They are not merely the NHL teams play thing, even if you want them to be. Not only that but it wouldn't be very good for their development to roll with your plan. They would get beat on, play less games, play in less meaningful situations and wouldn't have earned the knowledge and process of improving. The Wings certainly control certain aspects of the Griffins, but they don't treat it in a ho-hum let's do whatever we want fashion and I am happy with that.

 

why would any of that be true?

its a development league for the NHL, not a professional beer league

I am not suggesting you send 18 year old there at all, but you cant have 85% of the roster spots taken up by guys who will never sniff the NHL and who were never going to in the first place

 

They don't there are rules about how many vets you can play. But Lashoff is a good player and leader at that level.

I wanted Lashoff gone from the Wings, but he serves a pretty big purpose on the Griffins. To be clear Cholowski should draw in here almost immediately. But it isn't going to be Lashoff that sits. A part of this development is putting a team together that can win and go on deep runs. How valuable was it for Tyler Bertuzzi to play in a big playoff run a couple of times? Really valuable. The investment in vets at the AHL level is important, they help your prospects, they teach them things and in a lot of cases are protection for them when on the ice.

Lashoff and McIlrath being on GR back-end is a good thing. Sambrook not getting a contract isn't the end of the world in reality he would be lucky to be a Lashoff or McIlrath type somewhere down the line...

If they figure out a way to sign him fine, but our hopes as an organization have really nothing to do with that, he is an extreme long shot.